Ender's Game
INTRODUCTION “The Lord of Shadows is amongst the most brilliantly insidious villains in our nation’s history, if not the history of the world. He has never been seen, not by anyone; we do not know if he is human, nor what are the extent of his powers. We do not even know what the nature of those powers are, only that he is mighty indeed, for even those on the side of the Dark could not hope to match him when he claimed their domains for his own in the eponymous War of Shadows. The one thing we do know is that he has designs not only on our nation, but on the world itself, and it is our solemn duty to oppose his evil wherever we may find it.” Exposing the Shadows, Albus Tenebrae Welcome to Lordaeron. It is a young nation, borne of conflict and still reeling from the brutality of the Shadow War only twenty years prior. Ender, Lord of Shadows, emerged victorious from that war, having single-handedly conquered the twelve Apostles of the Night, they who once ruled the northern reaches of this great land. For two decades, he has lain dormant in the dread fortress of Mordor. We do not know why; whatever the reason, the forces of the Light have taken every advantage of his delay, fortifying cities, harvesting vast stretches of land to feed the armies they know they will have to raise and solidifying their control of everything south of the badlands, led by the mighty Ebon Knights, they who stand twixt light and the darkness. But rumours abound that the Lord of Shadows is stirring, that he is once again preparing for the conflict that has been brewing since he first rose to power. That his reach seeks to extend itself beyond Lordaeron to the whole continent of Scadrial, and from there the world. For all their strength, the Ebon Knights are not foolish – they know they cannot hope to stand against Ender should he take the field in direct combat. That is not their purpose - they were formed to counter his armies, to fight against Dreadlords and their minions and to lead the forces of the Light. But prophecy speaks of a band of heroes who can face down the Lord of Shadows, of a sword known as Ceur'caelestos, the Blade of Heaven, infused with the power of the Light and bane to all evil. It claims that there exists one amongst those heroes who can wield the Blade of Heaven, and smite the forces of the Dark. And it says that together, those heroes will have the power to change the destiny of Lordaeron forever. You are those heroes. Rise, and the world will rise with you. Your destinies ride on the winds of time. ---- CHARACTER BUILDING Your heroes enter the campaign at level 11 (55,000 xp). This number must be taken into account if you decide to multiclass with classes other than your race's favoured classes, or if you decide to make items with your xp. Your have 30 points to spend on your attributes, using the following point-buy system: 8 | 0 9 | 1 10 | 2 11 | 3 12 | 4 13 | 5 14 | 6 15 | 8 16 | 10 17 | 13 18 | 16 You begin with 66,000 gold pieces, which you can spend to your heart's desire. The only rule, barring DM's discretion, is that you cannot buy an item that costs more than half your total gold. Material from''' every 1st party book''' can be used - however, you will have to submit your character sheets for the DM's scrutiny, and we can and will rule to ensure each and every character is fairly balanced for the campaign. The DM's discretion is final''.'' Skill tricks are permitted, and you may have a maximum of two flaws, subject to DM approval. You are working on the side of Good, in a land under martial law where being evil is a crime worthy of immediate execution, and it is equally warranting of execution not to execute someone evil the moment you discover their alignment. Even those who are neutral are looked on with suspicion. Take this into account when choosing your alignment. You will'' ''be levelling up more than once over the course of the campaign, so keep this in mind when constructing your characters. Psionics/Arcane Magic duality is active. If you have any questions to do with building your characters or anything else, feel free to ask either DM. Good luck, and may the Light reign supreme. ---- FORCES OF EVIL Ender, Lord of Shadows (Unknown, obviously Evil) Very, very little is known about the Lord of Shadows - in fact, were it not for the undeniable proof of his existence in the Shadow War, and the facts that none who venture to Mordor ever return, his very existence would probably be naught but a rumour. Even the greatest scholars and diviners of the age have never been able to find any more information than was available since the end of the Shadow War - whether this is a testament to Ender's power, or an extraordinarily careful and complex campaign to shroud himself in misinformation and rumour, we do not know. Either option is equally terrifying, for the former implies powers capable of fooling the greatest forces of the Light working on concert whereas the latter implies his reach and intelligence are greater than anything we have ever suspected. There is only one, truly known fact about the Lord of Shadows - he is incredibly, incredibly dangerous. Beware, those who stand in the Light, for you underestimate him at your peril; even the greatest good can be subverted through evil's cunning. The Naeblis (Unknown, obviously Evil) Naeblis is an ancient Lordaeronic word meaning "Hand of the Dark", and it is a fitting term for Ender's greatest lieutenant. We do not know much of the Naeblis either - Ender lives up to his name as the Lord of Shadows when it comes to his own forces, for they are all shrouded in mystery. All we truly know that the Naeblis is Ender's most loyal servant, and by far his most powerful. He or she has not been seen outside of Mordor, but in this case it is not because the Naeblis has not left it - it is because none who have seen the Naeblis close enough to identify them have been seen again. We do not know what the nature of their powers are, or how they kill without leaving a body, only that they must be a being of immense power. Some say that the Naeblis is even more dangerous than Ender, for he or she has done more to sabotage the Light's cause than the Lord of Shadows, who they point out has never been seen in twenty years. They are fools. For all the Naeblis' power, they have forgotten one thing. It is the Lord of Shadows who controls the Naeblis, with everything that implies. Dreadlords (Unknown, obviously Evil) The Dreadlords are Ender's equivalent of the Ebon Knights - or, at least they were in the War of Shadows, when he took the whole might of the Dark for his own. Of them, we possess more information. Some Dreadlords possessed strange, unnatural powers, while others were merely perversions of the Light's forces. Ender, in a display of fiendish cunning, even managed to take over the minds of some of the forces of the Light and turn them to his cause, for who better to fight the forces of evil than those of good? Each and every one of them served Ender with unswerving loyalty, and each and every one of them was incredibly dangerous. They serve as proof of Ender's might, for who could control so many of evil's most powerful servants but one to whom they were like candles before the sun? Heretics (Any Good, typically Neutral) The Heretics are proof of the Lord of Shadow's most insidious devising. Scholars and thinkers, each and every one of them has professed devotion to the Light, a devotion that cannot be doubted by magic means - they are all aligned to Good, but in truth they serve the Dark's aims. The Heretic's chief claim is simple: The Lord of Shadows is the best thing that ever happened to Lordaeron. They point out the almost non-existent crime rates, the lack of poverty, almost-full employment and abundance of food and other resources and credit it to the fact the nation is unified against a common foe - Ender. They say that we live in as close to an utopia as is possible in reality. The most dangerous thing about the Heretic's idea is simply that - what they profess is an idea. A belief. You cannot kill an idea, even though some of the more zealous Ebon Knights have been attempting to, limited as they are by the fact that the Heretics are still, at heart, walking in the Light. However, for all their ideals, they are too focused on the what, and not on the why. The reason Lordaeron is living is what can only be called martial security is because the Dark incarnate threatens our land. And when he invades, the Heretic's 'perfect world' will be torn apart in fire and blood. ---- FORCES OF GOOD The Seer (True Neutral) The Seer is a secrective individual, shrouded in mystery and masked by hooded robes. It was he who gave the prophecies that speak of Ceur'caelestos, its fated wielder and those who will stand against Ender and end the second Shadow War before it begins. Almost nothing else is known about the Seer, save that he too is a devoted servant of the Light; despite his alignment, normally one of the most distrusted outside of true evil, the Seer has long served Lordaeron, from the early days of the Ebon Knights and the Reformation Wars--where his prescience helped ensure the bandit warbands' defeats--to locating those Dreadlords daring enough to leave Ender's badlands and enter Lordaeron proper. He appears to have some relation to the highest echelons of the Order of the Ebon Knights even now, for he sometimes is seen with Knight-Marshal Daeros. But what that relationship is, few know, and those who do have never spoken. The Waif (Chaotic Good) For all that is known about the Seer, we know even less of the Waif. She appeared some ten years ago as a young child, hanging around the Seer and watching everything with eerily adult eyes. She is often seen in his company - the two never speak, but one sometimes thinks they are having a conversation nonetheless. Nobody has ever heard her voice, for she does not speak, or even seen her face thanks to her mask. She appears to come and go at will - weeks can pass in which she is never seen, and then she will reappear for an hour, leaving and returning as if she'd never been away. She too appears to have some form of relationship with the Ebon Knights - she is sometimes seem in the company of some of the visible, high-ranking members of the Order, and an unreported, unconfirmed rumour states that she once gave some form of order to Grand-Marshal Daeros, military commander of Lordaeron's capital, Elenea. Ebon Knight Paladin (Lawful Good) Ebon Knight Paladins are the Order's foremost martial enforcers. They can be found all throughout Lordaeron, from the largest cities to the wild reaches of the countryside, and act in conjunction with Ebon Knight Clerics to seek out and destroy evil wherever they may find it. In combat, an Ebon Knight Paladin is a deadly adversary, combining astonishing vitality with an array of divine-related attacks... from the back of a warhorse augmented with holy power. Strict, uncompromising and wholly devoted to the rule of the Light, an Ebon Knight Paladin is one of evil's most feared adversaries and good's most fearsome champions. Ebon Knight Cleric (Any Good) Ebon Knight Clerics comprise, almost literally, the half of the Order that are not Ebon Knight Paladins. They are the Order's healers, its teachers and the divine guardians of its lore and the lore of the Light, and act in a support role to Ebon Knight Paladins in almost all matters. In combat, an Ebon Knight Cleric rarely enters the front line, relying on the walking tanks that are Ebon Knight Paladins to soak up the damage while they focus on utilizing their vast array of supporting spells, be it to heal a wounded Paladin or buff them to even deadlier levels. Wise and powerful, Ebon Knight Clerics serve two things above all others: their gods, and the rule of the Light. ---- THE EBON KNIGHTS The Order of Ebon Knights are the foremost martial order in Light-controlled Lordaeron. Comprised mostly of clerics and paladins, they are zealous to a fault in their pursuit of evil in all its forms. Should you reveal yourself to be aligned with the powers of the Dark, they will stop at nothing to destroy you. Even if you seek to thwart them from discovering if you side with evil, be warned - to the Ebon Knights, disguising your alignment in any form is as good as admitting your guilt, and they will seek to crush you regardless. However, on the converse, those who love the Light have nothing to fear should they encounter a party of Ebon Knights anywhere in Lordaeron. In fact, if you happen to be on the good axis of alignment, you can freely request any Ebon Knight to give you what information they have about any subject, be it the nearest town, where you should go to smite some evil or if there any 'quests' in the neighbourhood. In fact, if you're sufficiently persuasive, you can even request their assistance in various matters (whether that request will be granted depends on what the request is, your diplomacy checks, and the DM's discretion). They are found in every city and town in Lordaeron (even a small village will still have at least one member of the Order present), as well as roaming the countryside looking to stamp out whatever evil they can find. Those in the orders highest ranks are the closest thing Lordaeron has to nobility, but they are sworn to serve the Light and do not seek to rule, only to command Lordaeron's armies in the event of war. However, their commands can carry huge weight, and their leader is the truly the closest thing the nation has to a King. Nobody knows who leads the Ebon Knights, only that their leader exists. He or she lives in secret, seeking to evade the eyes of the Lord of the Shadows, for he or she would be one of the first targets should war begin again, the one target the Light cannot afford to lose.